One of my courageous friends, Producer Bill Snider, is developing a feature film that will be produced next year in Hong Kong and the Philippines. The story is about the devastating social consequences faced by Filipino families, when they choose to leave the country for jobs with the hope of providing for their families back home.

About five years ago, I conducted a screenwriting class in Manila and we polled both professional and amateur writers on what would be the most significant subject to tackle for a feature film in their country. The class unanimously agreed that the greatest Filipino story would come from Bill’s very topic and had the potential to culturally impact the perspective of millions.

It takes tremendous effort to tackle such a project, but that isn’t where Bill’s courage ends. He’s also developing the project within the parameters of the current culture and doing it in the Tagalog language. Not to mention doing it as he overcomes the after effects of Typhoon Haiyan.

While some might think Bill has taken on more than he can handle, the film is actually in good hands. Bill is celebrating his 25th anniversary with AP Media in Manila. He fell in love with the people and culture years ago and is passionate about making sure Filipino stories are developed by nationals.

In fact, he brought my friend Alex Lyons to the Asia Pacific region this year to conduct training seminars in various cities. Not only has Alex taught some of the latest cutting edge techniques to the nationals, but also he has personally gleaned knowledge from the professionals in each country. I’m confident it will be a year of travel Alex will never forget. Then again, he might decide to follow in Bill’s footsteps and hang out in Manila for the next 25 years.

In preparing the story, Bill’s team conducted personal interviews with several people that lived out the controversial decision to support their family through jobs obtained overseas. The writer tried to capture the essence of the good and bad consequences each out-of-country worker faced.

Since Bill is not one to offend, the story will reveal the ramifications of the decisions, without casting a judgment on those who have chosen that path. However, he will present another viewpoint that will help nationals understand they don’t have to follow society’s trends, but can instead do what is best for their own family.

After reading the translated script, I can’t help but wonder if there is yet another angle that might be worth considering, which doesn’t suggest good or bad decisions. Instead, it would reflect a choice between our personal love languages and how we are able to receive that love.

Years ago I read Gary Chapman’s “The 5 Love Languages,” which suggested we all interpret love in one of five main ways: acts of service; gift giving; quality time; words of affirmation; and, physical touch. While we all require some level of all five to be present for a healthy life, we tend to lean toward one as representing the core essence of love. Of course, knowing your partner’s key love language helps to know how to demonstrate love to him or her.

When a family member leaves to work overseas, it seems to stem from the concept of gift giving – providing financially. If the rest of the family holds to the same love standards, the travel is more likely to improve the family’s bond. But, if quality time is one family member’s core love language, then he or she will be devastated by the parent who leaves.

This concept suggests that working overseas would only be a benefit for those families where all of its members hold gift giving to be the core element in demonstrating love. Since the odds of that being true are low, the choice to work overseas and send money home to the family will always create a painful scenario.

So, what would happen if the mom first sought an overseas job with the intension to express her love by sending funds back home, but eventually realized that her kids understand the demonstration of love to be quality time, which she is no longer around to give? The main character would struggle to undo all of her choices in order for her family to see her as loving, after viewing her from the perspective of abandonment.

I believe those elements would make for a great drama. The protagonist would have to understand her own and her kids’ love language in order to give love to her kids in a way that they can receive it by the end of the movie – Making for a happy ending.

It will be fun to see how Bill’s creative team finalizes the script. After all, entertainment is the best way to alter culture and having been saturated in the culture for 25 years, I’m confident Bill shall make the best story decisions that will impact future generations of Filipinos.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers

One of the most common tools used by a producer looking for investors and a creative team to produce his story as a movie is a “One Sheet.” This is not to be confused with the poster, which is also called a one sheet. This tool not only helps in pitch sessions, but it also works as a great leave-behind.

Example One Sheet – The King’s Speech

One sheets include:

1. The Title: The movie’s title is centered at the top of the page and is in bold type. It uses the same type  (Times Roman or Arial 12 pts.) as the entire sheet.

2. Contact Info: Directly under the title is the producer’s name. Directly under his or her name is the phone number and email address. Both lines are centered.

3. Logline: The logline is one sentence that represents the essence of the story. The Hunger Games logline might have been something like: When a young woman’s sister is chosen randomly to be placed in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death, she volunteers to go in her stead.

The logline reveals:

1. The main character.
2. His or her flaw.
3. The obstacle he or she has to overcome.
4. What’s at stake.

If possible, the logline should also reveal the irony of the story.

4. Story Synopsis: The synopsis is broken into four paragraphs representing content from Act 1, Act 2A, Act 2B, and Act 3. The content is broken down into the following paragraphs of information:

Paragraph One: This represents the background of the story and all of the key set ups. Anything put into this paragraph must be paid off by the fourth paragraph. Since the One Sheet is limited to one page, it’s important that the focus stay on the action plotline only.

The first paragraph should answer the following questions:

• What is the world like?
• Who is the main character?
• What does he or she want and why?
• What is his or her obstacle?

Paragraph Two: The second paragraph needs to address the following:

• The steps the main character takes to achieve his or her goal.
• The complications that make his or her goal difficult to obtain.
• A focus on his or her objective and whether or not he or she is getting closer or farther from obtaining it.

Paragraph Three: The third paragraph needs to raise the stakes and put the main character at a point of no return. The idea is to make sure the main character can’t turn back and is forced to move forward because of the bigger stakes he or she faces.

Paragraph Four: The fourth paragraph is all about the pay-offs. Anything that is set up in earlier paragraphs must be paid off at the end. The paragraph also includes the climax and any lesson the theme of the story might bring out in the main character.

Some suggest the ending should never be given, but that is only true in movies without answers, thrillers and horror films. All other types of movies require the reader to comprehend the importance of the ending.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers

The film industry is about to lose the federal tax program known as section 181 on January 1, 2014. This fiscal law allowed investors of motion pictures to expense out 100% of their investment in one year, compared to the normal amortization of investments over five years.

Not only did section 181 give the investor the ability to deduct the full investment in one year, but it also allowed the investor to use it two years prior to obtaining it or up to 44 years after obtaining it. In other words, if the investor needed to offset high incomes from 2011, they could file a corrected tax return utilizing the write off benefit from this year. Or, the investor could hold it until a higher than normal income year hit their books.

The good news is that filmmakers can grandfather in section 181 into their film project for use in the future. The grandfather clause allows the filmmaker to set things in place before January 1st and can be used at anytime within the next 44 years.

To qualify for grandfathering in section 181, the filmmaker must file the following by 12/31/13:

1. A completed screenplay.
2. A full budget top sheet.
3. Footage from one day of filming a scene.
4. Investor documentation.

The screenplay needs to be titled and copyrighted. It can be any length, but must qualify as a feature film. I believe 47 minutes is the current length for a film to be considered a feature by the MPAA. While the title can’t change, the screenplay can be 100% rewritten when the rest of the film is to be shot.

The full budget top sheet can also have changes made to it, but keeping the gross total the same will help the validity of the grandfather clause. There is a $20MM cap on the gross project cost and the details of section 181 would need to be reviewed for what portions of the budget qualify. There are specific rules about above the line and below the line items, as well as a certain level of spend being done in a “depressed” area.

One day of principal photography needs to include a segment from the screenplay and its dialog placed onto a DVD. The amount of footage shot or the number of hours it takes to capture it is not of importance. The footage doesn’t even have to make the final edit or include the final actors. Nor does it require a full crew. But, it does need to be clear that it’s principal photography.

The investment document that needs to be in place is the subscription agreement. However, it is safer to also have an operating agreement, the investor questionnaire, and the manager questionnaire. This deliverable also assumes that all the future investors will be accredited, so a private placement memorandum would not be needed.

If the filmmaker has all these items in place, he can sign investors on any year after 2013 and give them the full grandfathered in benefit, allowing investors to deduct 100% of their investment immediately or when it’s ideal for them, rather than amortizing it over five years.

And yes, if a filmmaker was creative enough and had a high degree of business acumen, he could set up several LLCs with these grandfather clauses for future films over the next 44 years. And, he could also sell some of those companies to other filmmakers who want to give the full benefit to their investors, as the company will retain the grandfathered in section 181.

The only issue is that the title of the film, the grand total of the budget, and the LLC paperwork must stay the same. And, with the new law that allows motion picture offerings to now be promoted on websites, it will make those smart filmmakers ideal candidates for investors who need a full tax write off.

One man shared last week that he owed $5.2MM in taxes and invested $6MM in a section 181 film. Because he was just barely above the 39% tax bracket, the dollar for dollar write off dropped his taxes down to $1.4MM. Because the numbers didn’t mathematically work for me, I asked a few more questions and learned he also used the film company’s tax credit to drop his number all the more.

In other words, by investing $6MM in the film, he saved $3.8MM in taxes, which meant he only had a third of his investment at risk. And, he shared that the film made $37MM in profit, so he was looking for another section 181 film to invest in to help offset his new tax issues.

Now is the time for investor savvy filmmakers to prep a few companies with the section 181 for their investors before it disappears in January. And, for those who already qualify, but their accountants don’t understand the tax relief program, they should fire their accountant and hire one that knows how to use section 181 to their favor.

Copyright 2013 by CJ Powers